Many years ago when I was a novice Assistant Principal in New York City, I attended a city wide meeting prior to the start of another school year. The Deputy Chancellor greeted us and wished us well on the upcoming school year. Once again our school budgets had been cut, our teaching staffs reduced, and our mandates increased. After a collective groan from my collegues, myself included, the Deputy Chancellor commented almost as an after thought, " You know, you guys could be your own worst enemies!"
He went on to explain that every year schools are expected to do more with less resources. Every year somehow we manage to pull a rabbit out of the hat and provide a meaningful education for our students. Sometimes that means that our teachers use their own monies to make up for a lack of supplies and equipment. Sometimes we shuffle monies from one fund to another or put off needed repairs to the infrastructure.
The question arises - do we provide less for our students, when times are tough, in order to make the point with the general public or do we continue to pull rabbits out of the hat?
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